The Twins
by Silver Sky 45
Summary: When the turtles come upon young twins lost in the sewers, they end up raising and caring for the exciting twosome. Now the twins are in highschool and everyone is feeling the stress of Foot Ninja attacks and teeange drama combined!(language, adult humor)


Somewhere, deep in the bowels of New York City, a sour smell drifted on the air. This smell was that of death, blood and destruction and it reeked as badly as the scent of the junk yards lifting on the wind. Inside the smoldering remains of a shack no larger than a storage room, three figures resides, silhouetted by the moonlight. One was that of a lifeless body, once a woman and mother of two, cold and forsaken on the wooden floors. Blood leaked from her chest and spread across the floor, rippling as the wind blew through the cracks of the shack walls. Two other figures, much smaller and more vulnerable in appearance, cuddled together in the corner, one threatening to let out a wail of grief.

The smaller of the figures quickly clapped a hand over the other's mouth and held them close, hugging it protectively as footsteps approached the shack door. They were massive, terrifying, and both small children cowered as closely to the shadows as possible. The door swung open and banged against the wall, causing the whole house to quiver, and a massive man stepped inside, his long blonde hair swept back in a neglected ponytail which dangled forebodingly in the light. His beady eyes shifted back and forth, his large chest swinging from side to side when he walked. He peered inside, noticing the body and smirking slightly. He was unable to see the children, but the smaller scowled and barred her teeth, her eyes reflecting anger and hatred. The larger, now recognizable as a boy, held her back and drew her into the shadows as silently as a mouse. They remained unseen and the man finally turned to leave, speaking over his shoulder to the dead body of the woman.

"No one, woman or child, messes with the Shredder and lives to tell the tale."

With that he was gone, out onto the streets for a lonely night of patrolling and reporting to his master. The children waited twenty seconds and then leapt out of their hiding places, the smaller turning to her brother and speaking in child like words.

"Momma no move! She no wake ups!"

The boy inspected his mother and shook his small head sadly, standing up straight and letting tears spill from his eyes. Unlike his sister, he understood the meaning of death and knew that no amount of yelling would wake their mother this time. The girl quickly ran to him and began to comfort him, wiping his tears on her shirt and speaking in dulcet tones like their mother once had. The boy nodded at her kind phrases and finally dried his eyes, watching his sister as she walked to the door. He cocked his head.

"Where go?"

His sister did not reply but opened the door, beckoning him to join her in the night time air. He glanced nervously around, as though not finding this the best of ideas, but realized that he had no choice but to follow. He ran out after her and locked hands protectively, determined not to lose her; he feared strange people more than anything. She gripped his hand tightly and fearlessly ran out of the shack and into the street, safe due to the lack of cars in the late night time. They made their way down the sidewalk, passing shops and windows that flashed strange images in the dark, seeing that they had a choice whether to go straight ahead and continue their sidewalk journey or go left and venture into a dark and frightening alley way. The boy wanted to go forward, but the girl drug him left, boldly charging into the dumpster shadows.

She looked around, her eyes mere slits in her concentration. She felt a strange texture beneath her feet and looked down seeing a strange looking circle. She had never seen a manhole before and stepped backwards, seeing the finger holes and pushing her chubby fingers through them. She lifted up with all her might, managing to lift it just a crack. Her brother worked his fingers under the crack and pulled upwards, gaining enough leverage that they could swing the cover to the side. The girl peered into the obscure and bacterial depths of the sewers and bent far forwards, trying to catch a better glimpse of the wonders inside. The boy was scared by a rat's shadow and backed up quickly, knocking his sister through the gaping hole and then falling through himself.

They let out surprised shrieks and tumbled through the air, landing in the cold and uninviting stream of sewer water flowing down the tunnel. The girl struggled to her feet, grunting at the exertion and then offered a hand to her terrified brother. He took it eagerly and stuck very close to her, shuffling down the stream until they discovered the sidewalk to the left and right. They hopped upon the right most path and began a long walk, hearing the hollow drips and drops of water as they leaked out onto the metal pipes. The girl wrinkled her nose at the disgusting smell and hurried her brother along, wanting to get as far from the smell as possible. She saw a light up ahead and began to run, losing her grip on her brother's hand as she grinned and charged brazenly into the light. Her brother gasped and tried to follow but was not as fast and lingered in her wake.

The girl burst into a strange and cavernous hallway, lit by underground fluorescent lights and a tannish colored stone adorning the walls. There were many pipes, making a strange scaffolding appearance below her and she found herself to be on a suspended platform of sorts. Her brother ran through the opening and bumped into her in his haste, breathing laboriously. The girl shot him a haughty glance and he looked away, fearing her wrath. Then, they heard voices echoing along the walls and curling into the opening. They were normal sounding voices and the children neglected to think of imminent danger. The voices were not intimidating like that of Hun, the scary man who had infiltrated their home only an hour ago.

The voices were soon distinguishable from one another. One spoke louder than the rest in a carefree and fun loving way.

"Dude, those Foot ninja really need some new material. Same old butt kicking business every time!"

The others laughed a little and agreed, tolerating the voice but showing the slightest irritation at its incessant talking. A deeper voice answered, gravelly and heavy with a Brooklyn undertone.

"Yeah, but those tech ninja aren't quite as bad. Did you see the kick one of them landed on Mikey's ass?"

This time two new voices really did laugh, much to the dismay of the first voice, now apparently belonging to someone named Mikey.

"Hey!" he said indignantly.

At this time, the owners of the voices came waltzing through the same opening that the twins had just bumbled through, sneaking up behind them and seeming quite surprised to see mere children wandering around the sewers. The boy looked up at them with wide and frightened eyes, now terrified of the bodies belonging to the seemingly harmless voices.

There was no denying that all four of the newcomers were as green as a forest after the rain and were taller than the children by at least four and a half feet. They were muscular all over, like the body builders the kids had once seen on a poster at the supermarket, and had thick yellow coverings over their torsos. Each had a different colored headband that showed his eyes and wrapped around the back of their heads, tying in complicated knots and leaving the ends to flutter in the wind. Cloth belts were wrapped around their waists and each had a weapon to call his own, either resting in his belt or clapped to his back. The weapons on their back accentuated the fact that they had large shells with odd designs on them, unlike anything the children had ever seen. It was then that little girl hopped in front of her brother and barred her teeth with pent up rage, crouching down low as though this made her feel safer.

One of the large green beings approached her in what they hoped was a non-threatening way but then the girl lunged out and kicked mercilessly at their shin. The green guy hopped around, holding his shin and shouting obscene curses while the other three beings laughed at his predicament.

"Nice going Raph," commented a being in an orange headband, placing his three fingered hands on his hips and revealing his pair of nunchaks.

The one called Raph quickly drew a three pronged sai, one of a pair, from his belt and pointed it threateningly at his colleague.

"Watch it Mikey…" came his low and dangerous growl, his eyes becoming angry slits through his red head band.

Another spoke in a very calm voice, not unlike their mothers, and he approached more serenly than the first, kneeling down to better level with them and smiling kindly. He had a purpled head band around his head and a long wooden bo staff slung crosswise across his shell, a canvas duffel bag hanging from one shoulder.

"Don't be afraid now, we won't hurt you. Come here, I promise we won't do anything."

The little boy blinked at him as though debating whether or not to trust him and finally he took two tentative steps forward, walking cautiously towards the outstretched hand the being had provided. He touched it and found that it was not slimy or cold, but warm. He smiled a little and the being smiled back. He saw that the boy had dark brown hair, almost a red color, and his eyes were an intelligent mahogany. He was slender in build and had his long hair tied back in a ponytail, though he didn't seem to mind it, uncharacteristically of a boy.

The girl, however, was much less trusting, and looked warily at the four green beings. The fourth approached her and did not take any precautions which threw her off guard. She had been expecting it to go slow like the others but it acted as though she were its equal. She liked this much more and walked up to it, staring defiantly at its blue headband and briefly noticing the katanas strapped crosswise across his shell. She had flaming red hair in wild curls all the way to her thighs and raging green eyes that reflected her already uncontrollable anger. The green guy bent down to get a better look at her and shook his head.

"This one's got some attitude."

Raph rubbed his shin ruefully and kind of grinned in a forgiving way. "Yeah, I noticed. She's a fighter. Leo, I'd watch my shins if I were you."

The one called Leo addressed the girl directly and in a level tone said, "How old are you?"

The girl replied in a rebellious but adorably baby like voice.

"Foah."

"Four?" repeated the one in the purple head band. Raph chuckled.

"That's what she said Donny."

Leo stood to his full height. "How did they get down here?"

Mikey shrugged and looked down at the boy. "Misplaced manhole maybe?"

Donny shook his head and picked up the boy, much to the young child's delight. "Well, no matter how they got here, we can't just leave them. We'll have to take them back to the lair."

Leo offered a lift up to the girl, which she stoutly refused and he shrugged at Raph who snickered at the girl's spicy ways. They began a walk through several mazes of tunnels and the beings were talking when one addressed the green group as "the teenage mutant ninja turtles."

The newly named turtles led the children back to their lair, a large and wide open cavern with a tall ceiling and many columns supports separate rooms on the upper and lower floors. A small stream ran through the center and a dojo was on the one side of the stream, a kitchen and living area on the other. There were several ways leading out of the tunnel and the turtles brought the children inside, stopping short before a strange looking oriental door with blue carvings. Donny, (shortening this to Don,) walked up to the strange looking door and called out to whomever was inside.

"Sensei, we have returned from battle."

The doors slid open in separate directions, making wooden clashing noises and a bit of incense smoke poured out from the inner chamber. A creature stepped outwards, his furry snout poking out from his grey face beneath his solemn and wise black eyes. He folded his fuzzy hands on top of his wooden walking stick and his brown kimono fluttered as he made his way down the stairs, stopping before the turtle band. He noticed the two young children and addressed Leo.

"My son, who are these young ones?"

Leo stepped forward with respectfully averted eyes and bowed humbly on one knee. He glanced up at the rat and replied, "Sensei, we were returning from battle with the foot when we found them at the west sewer junction."

He stepped back in line with other turtles and they all stood with their heads down and their hands clasped in front, save Don who was still holding the amused yet slightly afraid little boy. The rat stared off into the distance, hooding his shrewd eyes in contemplative thought. The turtles awaited their master's verdict in rapt anticipation and the young children looked up at the rat in wonder. They were seeing so many creatures this night and they barely knew what to do with themselves in the silence that loomed uncomfortably over the lair. Finally, looking back down upon the turtles, the rat said in a soft voice, "We must care for them until their parents are located. If they are not, then we will accordingly create a plan."

The turtles bowed their heads before him. "Hai," they barked in unison.

With that the rat smiled and bid the company good night, retreating back into his chamber. Once he was gone, the turtles turned to look blankly at each other. Mikey voiced the general consensus on the decided course of action in a confused tone.

"So, what are we supposed to do with them?" he said, scratching the back of his head and raising one eyebrow. Don shrugged and looked down at the boy who was still clinging tightly to his shoulder.

"If we're supposed to find their parents, we should probably ask them what they know."

Leo nodded and Raph just scowled at their predicament as the party moved to the comfortably worn couches in the living room. The girl took a seat without being asked and crossed her arms moodily over her chest, looking away from Raph's slightly amused stair. The boy looked directly at Leo, who his quick mind had distinguished as the leader, and asked, "May I sit?"

Leo was taken aback by the intelligent question coming out of the mouth of so young a boy, but nodded dumbly in consent. The boy politely perched on the edge of the couch with his hands folded in his lap, looking straight ahead. As the children sat side by side, it became apparent that their relation was no that of mere siblings, but of twins. They shared the same face, if not for the coloring of their eyes and hair. Emotionally, however, they differed considerably. Mike observed the obvious contrast between the two kids and shook his head, crossing his arms over his plastron in bemusement.

"Well, I think this is a classic case of a Leo/ Raph sibling rivalry."

Don chuckled a little while Leo and Raph sat there looking rather peeved; the fearless leader took this as a sign to begin the questioning and returned to the matters at hand. He sat down in meditation position to make this experience less like an interrogation and more like a friendly chat. The others followed his example and Don began the process.

"What are your names?" he asked slowly, as though the children could not comprehend his words. The girl looked vehemently his way while the boy piped up from his position and seemed rather at ease now.

"No names."

Mikey raised an eyebrow and made wild hand gestures as he responded. "No names? You gotta have names! Didn't your parents name you?"

The boy shook his head fervently and Don rubbed his chin in thought. He addressed the boy directly this time.

"Where ARE your parents?"

The child glanced nervously at his sister and beckoned Don closer. The turtle exchanged glances with his brothers and rose, leaning in closely as the boy whispered in his ear, "Dead. Twin don't know, sh!"

Don found himself quite sorrowful at the situation of these two children and he leaned back on his haunches, rubbing his temples a bit and finally walking back to where his brothers were sitting.

He sighed and looked around at all of them. "Well, their parents are dead and I'm almost positive they don't come from an orphanage. They don't have the tagging bracelets or the clothing to signal that. I'm afraid we've got a pair of Jane Does on our hands."

Leo made a thinking sound and leaned backwards, staring dolefully up at the ceiling. What a sad way to be at the age of only four, parentless and wandering around the streets of New York alone in the middle of the night. At least he and the others had always had Master Splinter and their home in the sewers to come to. These children really hadn't even had that much. He realized that this was the stage that his Sensei had said they would get to at a later point, but it seemed that this later point was now. He glanced dully back at the door to the rat's chamber and thought that his master was most likely asleep by then so he knew it was pointless to debate this tonight.

Standing up, he stretched routinely and spoke to everyone in the room.

"We shouldn't wake Master Splinter so we'll just have to give them shelter for tonight. Who wants to be responsible for them while their here? Well, on second thought," he mumbled, stealing a glance at the troublesome little girl, "We should probably assign one of us for each of them. So, who wants him?" he asked, pointing to the little boy.

Don shrugged, raising his hand and walking over to the child. "I'll take him."

Leo nodded as though expecting this pairing and then gestured to the little girl with a bit of a sour expression on his face. "And…her."

Mikey and Raph both leaned back as though trying to escape the little girl, who looked to be quite the handful. Leo sighed and walked over to where his brothers were sitting.

"Rock, paper, scissors, loser gets the girl."

The other two nodded slowly in half hearted agreement and held out their fists tentatively. On Leo's count they threw down their choices and Raph groaned, seeing that both his brothers had put down paper while he had picked rock. The other two snickered as he walked moodily over to where the girl was sitting. He put his hands on his hips and stared down at her, eyes mean and cold. Once Leo and Mike had left the room with Don and the boy, he bent down to level with her and pointed an accusatory finger at her face.

"You listen up. This ain't my choice, ya hear me? I don't want this to be any harder than it has to be so don't be an ass. Got that?"

The girl stared at him for a long time, her green eyes boring holes in his skull. He in turn tried to pierce her with his dark ones and they sat in suspended animation, the staring contest carrying on like a death match until the girl smiled just slightly. It was more of a smirk and Raph mirrored her.

"Aw, c'mon ya little devil."

With that he began to walk to the kitchen with her following a few steps behind. Raph walked over to the refrigerator, which was smudged with pizza grease finger prints, and he swung the door open, peering inside until he found six slices of pepperoni pizza from Bennett's Pizzeria. He drug out all six and slapped them on a large platter, looking down at the angry girl. Raph tried to ignore her and began walking towards his room. She followed and he began to remember that she was his responsibility. He left the door open long enough for her to stalk inside and then he shut it with enough force to shake the whole sewer. For some reason, this pleased her and she smirked again, climbing up on the bed with Raphael. He stopped in mid bite of his second slice and raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Can I help you?" he asked sarcastically.

She grunted and quickly grabbed a slice of pizza. Raph didn't argue, but shot her a dirty glance all the same; he couldn't let this snot nosed brat think that she was in control. She ate the pizza almost faster than the turtle could blink and the turtle thought dryly to himself, "Was I this bad when I was her age?"

The girl stared defiantly up at him, not blinking and just letting those green monsters of hers annoy Raph out of his wits. She still had her arms crossed over her chest and her very posture expressed her vindictiveness. Finally he slammed down his plate on the counter and looked right back at her.

"What's your problem? Ya gotta stare or can you talk?"

She snorted contemptuously and responded, "I talk. Youse stupid?"

He growled angrily and jumped up quickly, not even causing the little girl to flinch. "Listen here, ya little ass, I don't take that kind of crap from nobody, especially a little runt like you, got it?"

She laughed scornfully, if that was possible for a four year old to do, and replied, "Me like Raph. Raph okay. But Raph stupid."

She grinned wickedly and looked up at him, as though waiting to see what his reaction would be. He thought a moment, not quite sure how to react to that. She had taken a liking to him, but at the same time found him stupid. He snorted and looked down at her, letting it slide just this once with a passing glance.

"Whatever kid. Hey," he said suddenly, changing topics, "Why do you act so bitchy all the time?"

It was a strange question he realized, coming from someone like him who couldn't keep his temper under control for anything, and even stranger when directed at a four year old. She didn't falter though, not even stumbling over her answer or asking about the word "bitchy."

"Angry at bastard."

Raph was startled and looked shocked at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"

She glared at him straight in the eyes and leaned in closer, furrowing her brow in her ire.

"Father was bastard, mom say. Left us. Hate father. Hate bastard."

Raph grimaced slightly at the cold words coming from someone so young and he absentmindedly passed her another slice of pizza. He looked down at her and realized that she was angry at the world like him; she hated the world for deserting her, and he hated the world for hating his kind. They were both reasons of simplicity, but were coated with such complexity that no one could ever understand him or this little child.

He realized that she was just like him, looking for a way to release all her anger on something that would take the brunt of her pain with a good beating. He could see it in her eyes with a simple passing glance and he thought silently to himself, munching on his pizza until the answer came to him in a flash of realization. He stood, walking to the door and looking at the girl in a way that beckoned her to follow. She rose slowly and did as she was bid, if not reluctantly, shoving her hands in her tattered pockets and watching Raph with great disinterest now. He led her through the living room, across the bridge over the sewer stream, and to the dojo with all its wonderful weapons. He showed her the texture of the floor that allowed better traction, the racks of weapons that the brothers kept just in case they needed an extra pair, and then he pulled his own sais from his belt. He held one tentatively out to her and she took it, staring at her sullen reflection in the shining metal blade. She gripped in it her small fist and swished it experimentally, showing that she knew how to move her arm to wield such a thing. Raph raised his eyebrows and watched her in wonder, not knowing how she could have picked up such a motion. He'd shown her once, but surely she hadn't learned from that one time…had she?

Raphael then walked over to where the dusty punching bag hung suspended from the ceiling by a strong hook and chain that Donny had constructed. He did a quick punch, putting a decent amount of force into it so that it caused the bag to waver. The girl perked up as she watched and she walked over to it, feeling the sand that lay packed inside. She punched it quite hard and it creaked slightly, although for the most part it just produced a little thud. She grew angrier at the punching bag's resistance and she kicked it this time, with quite good form for someone who didn't know what they were doing. She did it again, this time combining both the punch and the kick. Growling audibly, she began to virtually murder the punching bag with her little fists and feet. Raph grinned in satisfaction and watched her try valiantly to beat the crap out of the bag, her brow furrowed, sweat dotting her forehead and her eyes beginning to glow a strange color. Raph let out a soft "whoah," and moved around so that he could get a better look at her face.

His eyes went wide as he watched the little girl's eyes turning a brilliantly glowing crimson in her rage. She looked so angry at that bag, at the wall, at the floor, at everything, and Raph began to realize that something had scarred her even more than he knew. The child was yelling at the punching bag by this time and after at least five more minutes of insane release, she stopped, her clenched fists lingering at her sides and he small chest heaving up and down. Raph had sat down against the opposite wall and he called out to her.

"That better?"

She turned quickly and took everything in, realizing that she was still underground with the turtle in a strange fighting room. She felt somehow more calm and at ease than she normally did and she took in a deep breath, beginning a collected walk over to where Raph sat. Plopping down next to him and hugging her knees to her chest, she focused serenly on a scratch in the floor .Raph was lost in thought for a few minutes and when he snapped back into reality, he realized she'd fallen into a deep sleep with her chin between her knees. He sighed and gathered her up, carrying her back out of the dojo, over the river and into his room. He set her down on the far side of the bed and he took the near side, wondering what exactly he had done to deserve that kid. Somehow, though, he felt as though someone finally might understand what it was like to be perpetually angry and it made him sadistically happy. He smirked a little as he drifted off, thinking, "_Little devil…"_

Don sat on his bed side, deep in conversation with the little boy who was tucked neatly under the covers on the right side. The boy was incredibly intelligent, Don noticed, and he began to wonder if the boy was a certified genius with the way he spoke. He seemed to understand abstract thought for the most part and was able to do his multiplication tables by discovering mathematical patterns from the first equation. Don shook his head in amazement as the child rattled off his twelve times tables and he then looked directly at the boy, realizing that he may even know more than he let on. In a calm voice he spoke.

"How did your parents die? If you can remember?"

The boy thought for a moment and replied, "Jen die todaycause big man hit her with knife, right here," he pointed to his chest, his heart, and continued, "Steve no die, he leave, say Jen."

Don raised an eyebrow and inquired with hand motions, "Jen? She's your mother, and Steve your father?" The little boy nodded in confirmation and Don sighed. A big guy stabbed the childrens' mother? That was an incredibly scarring experience and he was surprised that the twins were as level headed as they were.

"Do you know when your birthday is?"

The little boy looked down at the hem of the bed sheets and finally shook his head. "Jen never tell us. Jen no like us."

Don felt even more sorrow threatening to overcome his heart and his tried to continue as well as he was able. "And how about…" he gave a small smile, "your favorite color?"

The boy smiled a little too, blushing as soon as a subject so closely related to him came up. He shrugged a little and said, "I like green, sis green."

Don didn't understand. "Sis green?"

The child nodded fervently and pointed to his eyes, repeating, "Sis green."

Finally Don caught on, nodding with a knowing smile on his face. "Oh, you mean the color of her eyes." The boy nodded.

It was then that Don began to wonder what the children were doing in the sewer. He gestured around him with wide arms, trying to make it obvious what he was referring to, and he asked, "What are you and your sister doing here in the sewers?"

The boy was quick on the uptake and said, "Jen died, we come down hole and walk to big room, see you."

Don wondered aloud to himself what exactly was going to happen to the poor twins and the boy just smiled a little, trying to brush some hair out of his eyes. "No worry, Don sir, we big kids."

Don laughed slightly at being called a "sir" and he also laughed at the child's natural bravery in a one on one conversation but intense cowardness in large groups. It seemed that this boy was quite a lot like him and this was intriguing, as Don had been forced to live alone with his genius for the past fifteen years. He looked down at the small boy and saw sadness but also coldness. It seemed that, although the boy did not display any pain or act out in any way, he felt a great resentment towards something. It had hurt him deeply, a wound that would not and could not heal. Don looked down at the boy and saw that his eyelids were coming ever so close to closing altogether. The turtle moved him slightly to the side and climbed into bed as well, turning out the bedside lamp and wondering with his last few moments if really there was a point to living alone as a genius. Perhaps this boy would be a way that genius could be shared.


End file.
